A NATION CHALLENGED: NORTHERN ALLIANCE

By DEXTER FILKINS with ERIC SCHMITT

Published: November 7, 2001

KHWAJA BAHAOUDDIN, Afghanistan, Nov. 6—
Northern Alliance officials said today that they had captured three districts near the strategic city of Mazar-i-Sharif, after what they said was the extensive involvement of American military advisers in the assaults.

If reports are accurate, the advances would be the Northern Alliance's biggest breakthrough since the United States began its bombing campaign nearly a month ago. Northern Alliance forces captured the districts of Zari, Aq Kupak and Keshendeh during an overnight battle, Qudratullah Hurmat, an aide to Gen. Ostad Atta Muhammad, said in an interview by satellite telephone today.

In Washington, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld sounded a cautionary note, saying the Pentagon could not independently verify the anti-Taliban gains. ''There are so many reports about this village or that village,'' Mr. Rumsfeld said. ''I like to let the dust settle and see where it is at the end of some period of time after there's been a pause.''

The three districts lie on the approach to Mazar-i-Sharif, and their capture will help the alliance move in on that Taliban-held city, which is regarded as central to the fight to control northern Afghanistan. The city sits in the middle of a string of cities running from Herat in the west to Taliqan in the east. The Northern Alliance wants to unite those cities under its control.

Mazar-i-Sharif is also important because it sits just south of the border with Uzbekistan, where the American military has set up extensive operations. If the Northern Alliance took the city, the Americans could set up a military base there.

As preparations for an offensive seem to lag in northeastern Afghanistan, alliance leaders are hoping to a claim a significant victory somewhere before the winter weather freezes the battlefields.

Mr. Hurmat, General Muhammad's aide, said the districts were captured after what he described as the aggressive involvement of American advisers. Mr. Hurmat said that there were about 15 Americans and that they helped plan the attacks against the Taliban, organized troops and gave orders to commanders in the field. ''Around the clock they are going to the front lines,'' Mr. Hurmat said of the American advisers. ''They are organizing the troops and telling our commanders what to do.''

Mr. Hurmat said the attack on the Taliban today followed a sustained bombardment by American jets, also directed by the American military advisers on the ground. Before the bombardment, Mr. Hurmat said, the Americans took photographs of Taliban positions and spoke on satellite telephones to Americans in Uzbekistan.

Mr. Hurmat said three American helicopters brought ammunition last night to a Northern Alliance base in Dara-i-Suf, a remote mountain village 60 miles south of Mazar-i-Sharif in Samangan Province. ''We are very grateful to the Americans,'' Mr. Hurmat said.

He said the American advisers were not wearing uniforms, and he described them as ''government officials'' who were not part of the regular military. He said they had set up a base at Dara-i-Suf, where they were living in tents, traveling by helicopter and dividing their time among three Northern Alliance commanders.

Mr. Hurmat's descriptions are the most detailed account yet by an independent party of the role of American advisers in Afghanistan. So far, American officials have declined to discuss in detail publicly the actions of the advisers. They have kept a low profile inside the country and have refused to identify themselves.

The increasing involvement of American Special Operations forces on the ground in Afghanistan comes as the United States military has started supplying small arms, including AK-47 automatic rifles, as well as rocket-propelled grenades that are effective against armor, to the Northern Alliance.

In recent weeks, American transport planes have dropped supplies of ammunition, food, water, blankets, and even food for the horses that many Northern Alliance soldiers ride. But supplying weapons to the anti-Taliban militia marks an escalation in the Pentagon's campaign to support its proxy ground force in Afghanistan.

''Certainly, one would hope that by providing assistance and creating an environment where it is possible to succeed and have success on the ground, by doing a good deal of damage to the forces opposing them, that we will see a greater degree of cohesion on their part, and that we'll see more success,'' Mr. Rumsfeld said.

Mr. Rumsfeld said the campaign in Afghanistan would take ''months rather than years,'' but acknowledged that could mean as many as 23 months.

The fighting for Mazar-i-Sharif has seesawed over the last several weeks despite repeated American air attacks on Taliban positions there. Three weeks ago, Northern Alliance officials said they were on the outskirts of the city; today, they say they are 12 miles away.

Part of the problem, alliance officials say, is that their troops there are cut off from their main stronghold in northeastern Afghanistan. Alliance officials say they have been unable to drop food and ammunition to their troops.

In battles overnight, Mr. Hurmat said, more than 20 Taliban soldiers were killed and 80 were taken prisoner. Among those captured was Mullah Quaher, a respected commander of the Taliban's 05 garrison, Mr. Hurmat said. He added in the late afternoon that the fighting was continuing.

In northeastern Afghanistan, American B-52 bombers struck Taliban positions today along a ridge near the village of Kalakata. The area struck today is the same one where attacks had failed to wipe out the Taliban presence earlier this week. It was unclear today if the American bombers had succeeded.

A senior commander said the goal of the American bombardment in Kalakata was to open a corridor so Northern Alliance troops could move forward. Mamoor Hassan, a commander in Dashti Qala, said the Northern Alliance's objective was to advance to Hazarbagh, a hilltop village five miles west of the current front line.

Commander Hassan implied that he was not ready to order his troops into battle yet. ''We need two good American bombings,'' he said.

Signs of American intelligence activity also emerged in alliance-controlled territory north of Kabul today. A white twin engine plane that alliance officials said was operated by the American government landed for a second time at a new dirt airstrip in the town of Golbahar this afternoon. Two vehicles from the alliance's Ministry of State Security picked up an unknown number of passengers from the plane and departed, with tight security.

The numbers of soldiers guarding the airstrip has doubled since the plane, which alliance officials said contained American military personnel, landed at the airstrip on Sunday. A senior alliance official said a team of six Americans was in the area to inspect the new dirt airstrip and carry out other activities. The airstrip, when it is completed, will be able to handle Russian-made Antonov transport planes, which the alliance operates, and American-made C-130 planes.

With snow closing road access to the area, alliance leaders say their forces are in need of fuel, ammunition and other supplies that can be ferried by cargo plane.

Photo: Explosions rocked the hills in northeast Afghanistan yesterday as United States bombers took aim on Taliban positions in Takhar Province. The bombers were trying to open a corridor for a Northern Alliance advance. (Sergei Chirikov/Agence France-Presse)(pg. B3) Map of Afghanistan highlighting Mazar-i-Sharif: The Northern Alliance claimed advances near Mazar-i-Sharif yesterday. (pg. B3)